Student House Rental Query

Cheeseface

My daughter has just moved into a student house with four other girls. The house is very dirty despite the cleaners coming in for the start of tenancy clean. The girls cleaned it themselves to a much higher standard.

The have been left a blank inventory and asked to complete it and send it back to the Letting Agency. the girls didn't take photographs prior to cleaning so just wrote down that the rooms were dirty. The LA has not yet refuted this but they have been very dismissive of the girl's queries and I think that they see students as easy cash.

This girls have been given all the correct documentation from the LA but their tenancy agreement does not have the landlord's name on it, the section is blank.

Already the girls are concerned about not getting their deposit back at the end of their tenancy. Will the lack of landlord on the tenancy agreement mean that TDS will go in their favour, if it gets that far?

tom9980

Do they have pictures of the property after they cleaned? i suggest they start taking lots of evidence now just in case.

However the Landlord not having done a proper check in report will go against him/her not your daughter and her friends. He needs to prove the property was left in a worse state than the check-in inventory and without one that would be difficult. As long as the girls leave the property in the same or better state than their inventory there can be no deductions other than rent arrears.

If you want the landlords details you can request them in writing.

00ec25

whether the LL's name is or is not on the tenancy contract has no bearing on outcome of a deposit return

what will matter for that is a) what proof do they have of the state of the property on check in and b) did the agent (assuming the LL has delegated that to their agent) acknowledged that they agree with the check in inventory

at this precise moment they have no photo to show the actual check in state, they have a verbal claim to it being "dirty" and they have yet to have that status acknowledged. The actual current status of the property is now "clean" so they could equally declare it as that. If it comes to a dispute then at the moment it is their word against the agent/LL and neither side has proof, except the agent can apparently claim (prove with an invoice?) that "professional" cleaners had attended the property before the check in took place. In theory, the deposit scheme should give the benefit of the doubt to the tenant, but they might not when faced with the possibility that it had already been "cleaned" to a standard now verbally disputed by the tenants.

wait and see if the agent signs the inventory, then you can claim that is was dirty with more confidence as that has been accepted as the status.

Cheeseface

There's no doubt that they will keep it cleaner than it was. The agents havent yet responded to the inventory return. I've told the girls to put everything in writing to the agent but the agent has online reporting and insisted that they use this so they've been using this. I've told them not to use it as they have no proof of what they've sent.

They did take some photos part way through cleaning but not in all the rooms, and I doubt they are detailed enough but hopefully that will be enough if necessary.

Thanks for all the advice.

G_M

The Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 section 1 says:

1 Disclosure of landlord’s identity.

(1)If the tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling makes a written request for the landlord’s name and address to—

(a)any person who demands, or the last person who received, rent payable under the tenancy, or

(b)any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord, in relation to the tenancy,

that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request.

(2)A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Tell them to write a short, polite letter requesting this.